Just received this E Mount lens today and on first look I am quite happy. You can Google it and read about the specs. Also there are two rings, Focus and Zoom. The focus is similar to any other servo focus. The zoom ring is also a servo, but it's fairly responsive for quick focal length changes. It has a zoom lever on the lens, but it works with the zoom lever on the EA50. There are a few things I am pleased with 1) The servo zoom works much better than the original 18-200mm lens. There is no jerky start and stop, and no shift in focus. It's smoothness is quite comparable to the lens on my V1U and Z7U. Also the zoom elements are internal so there is no extension to the lens as you zoom. 2) I also like the constant f4 aperture. 3) The price point is very affordable. I'll post some sample video in the next few day. Sorry about the upside down photo. When you click on it it appears with the proper orientation.

Been hearing (and seeing videos) of quite extreme pillow distortion with this lens on FS100/700. How's it working out on the EA50?
Apparently the NEX5/6/7 and VG20/30 have compensate for this in software but not the professional video camera NEX line. Was looking forward to this lens until I saw/read this.

Dmitri:
I looked at the video on YouTube Sony 18 105 Pillow OSS F4 Zoom - YouTube and I see what you are referring to, particularly at :19. looking through my EA 50 I'm not seeing that distortion. Tomorrow I'll shoot some footage and post the results.

Cool!
Maybe the EA50, using the same sensor as the NEX3/5/7(?) series still cameras also have the compensation, even if it's not included in Sony's list of supported cameras.
( SEL-P18105G (SELP18105G, SELP18105G.AE) | Products | Cameras & camcorders | Sony (http://www.sony.co.uk/product/ddl-zoom-lenses/sel-p18105g/compatible-products#tab) )

But encouraging that you're not seeing it in initial tests, cause eeven if I'm planning to get the FS700 shortly this lens would be used mainly on my EA50...

Here is a quick and dirty test I shot this morning.

E PZ 18 105mm F4 G OSS Lens Test - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfFXXTr1JSk&feature=youtu.be)
I don't see any issues with pillow distortion. In fact I saw this video last night from a trade show and the Sony rep was using this lens on the EA 50.
Inter BEE 2013: Newsshooter looks at the Sony NEX 18-105mm f4 on Vimeo

Here's a couple of observations. 1) The zoom control is better than the supplied 18-200 kit lens, but it's still not too smooth on the start. 2) It's very difficult to focus manually. I use the momentary auto focus and as with the kit lens that seems to work the best. 3) The shot of myself has a nice bokeh at f4.

So far I think it's worth the money. I have a musical performance shoot on Sunday evening so I'll see how well it does there.

Looks perfectly acceptable in your footage!

My intended use is for shooting live performances... Then I usually use the face detection and hit 'push auto' to let the camera do the focus when needed. Has been working surprisingly well with the stock 18-200 lens. the 50mm ƒ1.8 seems much slower at focusing this way. If this one is on par with the stock lens I'd be happy.

Better than the stock lens as your aperture won't be heading towards 6.5 as soon as you start to zoom. You might miss the reach of the stock lens.

This lens works great on my VG 20. On my FS700, there is crazy pillow distortion. Apparently,
this lens was not made to work with the higher end cameras. It works great with the EA 50, VG 20,
VG30, and the stills line NEX 5 and so on. On the FS cameras, there is some intense distortion
going on.

Agreed! I didn't see this posting so listed my results in a new post. Hoped this lens had a future but on the FS700 with 3.01 firmware it's no go for me. Check still image grab at:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-nxcam-nex-fs700/520726-sony-selp18-105g-dissapointing.html

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

Been some reports that Sony are "looking into it" but won't promising anything and "don't expect anything before spring" etc... It's a real shame as FS700 owners would have been those most interested in the lens to begin with...

@Lee, is the F4 on this lens the same in lowlight as the stock lens at F4? Maybe there is a difference?

Only difference is constant F4 when zooming in and less reach (about 5x zoom against 11x zoom on the stocklens)?

Tom:
I did a test today of both lenses at f4 and the 18-105 does appear to be slightly darker than the 18-200 . Also I'm surprised that with both lenses at full wide (18mm) there is a difference in the image. The 18-105 is not as wide. What the heck?

At full wide the 18-200 should be a bit lighter as it's 3.5 at the wide end. Or did you set it for f4 even wide?
As for the difference in field of view that is weirder...

I have now bought a FS700R and would love to get that lens for the EA50 to use for live shows and the 18-200 on the FS700. But I need to do some tests and see if they cut together well enough. Otherwise I might sell the EA50 and then I have no use for the 18-105 :(

I had them both set at f4, however since the kit lens goes to 3.5 there is some wiggle room as you adjust the aperture control from the point where the VF shows f4 till it indicates f4.5.

It's the electronic correction of distortion and vignetting that makes the picture less wide and a touch darker.
That's the cost...

I adapted a Canon EF 24-105/4,0 L IS on a speedbooster. It behaves as a 17-75/2,8 now but was a costly alternative. Know what: There's distortion on the wide end too - not correctable...

I've heard the Sigma 24-105 may be a good alternative to the Canon 24-105. Wonder if that
would help with distortion at the wide end?

There is distortion on the VERY wide end of the Canon 24-105 with the Speedbooster. For this reason, I never go fully wide with it. It IS correctable with Mocha (either standalone or within After Effects) but time-consuming. Can also fixed editing the video in Photoshop, again time-consuming! Canon lens is superior to the Sigma in my view (have shot with both on the EA50) but not by much.

It's the electronic correction of distortion and vignetting that makes the picture less wide and a touch darker.
That's the cost...

I adapted a Canon EF 24-105/4,0 L IS on a speedbooster. It behaves as a 17-75/2,8 now but was a costly alternative. Know what: There's distortion on the wide end too - not correctable...

Eric, correct me if i"m wrong, but I think you are mistaken. The speed booster does not widen a lens beyond it's 35mm specs, it brings it back to them. The APS-C sensor in the EA50 has a 1.6 crop factor. Using your 24-105mm lens with the speed booster removes the crop factor so that it behaves much closer to it's 24-105mm designation.

Steve

Hi Steve

That's the way I see it as well it only reduces by 0.72 .. it would have to exceed 1 to go wider that the 35mm lens spec which it doesn't but 0.72 brings you back quite close to original.

According to the manual the crop factor on the EA-50 is actually 1.5 which is the same as Nikon APSC cameras ..AFAIK only Canon use sensors that have the 1.6 crop factor.

Chris

Thanks for the clarification. Chris, I always have thought of it as 1.5 But for some weird reason this morning I thought is was 1.6 Must have been a hangover from my Canon days. I still love Canon cameras but I was let down when they abandoned the XL series body style and went so heavily into DSLR ergonomics.

The EA50 was my first return to Sony other than all my years working with their broadcast cameras. The EA50 is perfect for my needs. I get a form factor I like. I get all the benefits of a DSLR without all of the things I don't like about DSLR video cameras. And I get to keep using all of the very expensive Canon lenses I invested in over the years, which I could not use on my Canon video cameras.

Strange....Sony body, Metabones adapter, Canon lenses and I finally have exactly what I want. And that is coming from a guy who is generally opposed to adapters and weird marriages!

Steve

Edit: Weird marriages....I was not referring to people, I was referring to contraptions adapters can facilitate. People can do whatever they want, as long as they leave me alone :0 BTW Canon lenses on a Sony camera is a broadcast standard.

Thanks Steve

Just another point that I know precious little about and that is the fact that Erik no longer uses an EA-50 but an FS100 or 700 (don't know which) ..the point being here that those cameras are full frame sensors not APSC so a 24-105 without an Metabones would actually act as a 24-105 ... with the booster added it could therefore make a 24mm lens a 17mm due to the fact that the camera doesn't have a crop factor??

Or am I wrong?? Erik might still have his EA-50 but on his example I think he is talking about the FS series.

Chris

Primarily for my own benefit I compiled a Sensor Crop Factor Chart as I was never sure exactly what crop to apply to any particular camera lens combo. Not that the info is of any major benefit in the practical sense it was just nice to get it straight in my head and know what the factors were. If it's of any interest I have attached a PDF of my chart.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

Thanks Steve

Just another point that I know precious little about and that is the fact that Erik no longer uses an EA-50 but an FS100 or 700 (don't know which) ..the point being here that those cameras are full frame sensors not APSC so a 24-105 without an Metabones would actually act as a 24-105 ... with the booster added it could therefore make a 24mm lens a 17mm due to the fact that the camera doesn't have a crop factor??

Or am I wrong?? Erik might still have his EA-50 but on his example I think he is talking about the FS series.

Chris

FS100/700 are Super 35 not full frame. Super 35 is close to (but not the exact same as)
APSC. As for if the Speedbooster makes a 24mm lens a 17 mm, it depends on your 'frame
of reference'? If you are a Super 35 shooter then yeah, the 24mm lens with speedbooster
will be wider than a normal 24mm lens on the Super 35 cam....about equal to what a 17mm
lens looks like on a Super 35 cam.....and about what a 24mm lens looks like on FF.

Christopher, thank you for the chart. The only thing I would add to it is the names those sensors go by IE: APS-C, Super 35 etc.

And you are correct, I assumed the 5D was exactly 35mm.

Chris H, "Just another point that I know precious little about". Sometimes, I think I know to much about things that don't mater, but I always know I don't know enough about everything that does matter!

Steve

Steven wrote: "Strange....Sony body, Metabones adapter, Canon lenses and I finally have exactly what I want. And that is coming from a guy who is generally opposed to adapters and weird marriages!"

Back about 18 years ago in my TV commercial facility, I was assembling 3 CCD Ikegami broadcast cameras to Sony Betacam SP recorders (via suitable adapters) and shooting through Canon and/or Fujinon 'broadcast' ENG zoom lenses. (IMHO the Fujinon broadcast lenses are superior to the Canon product but hey, I'm biased there as I was once Fujinon's Australian National Sale Executive!)

It often pays to buck the 'all from one manufacturer' temptation. It can mean some extra research and some trial and error too but the benefits often outweigh the usual result. Many international post houses used to working with Sony cameras of the time often rang to ask us how we got the 'film look'.

Some industry 'seniors' may remember Ikegami produced one of the first video cameras (the EC-35?) designed with a unique (at the time) 'knee clip' circuit to better emulate a 'film look' and they would take Panavision lenses too I think, via a PL mount.

Let's not start a new thread.
I own both SELP18200 and SELP18105 on the NEX-EA50
I don't really care for the long zoom end.

Which one do you think I should sell ?
Are there any MTF charts about them out there?
I use them always wide open and I am not sure which one is sharper

Just received this E Mount lens today and on first look I am quite happy. You can Google it and read about the specs. Also there are two rings, Focus and Zoom. The focus is similar to any other servo focus. The zoom ring is also a servo, but it's fairly responsive for quick focal length changes. It has a zoom lever on the lens, but it works with the zoom lever on the EA50. There are a few things I am pleased with 1) The servo zoom works much better than the original 18-200mm lens. There is no jerky start and stop, and no shift in focus. It's smoothness is quite comparable to the lens on my V1U and Z7U. Also the zoom elements are internal so there is no extension to the lens as you zoom. 2) I also like the constant f4 aperture. 3) The price point is very affordable. I'll post some sample video in the next few day. Sorry about the upside down photo. When you click on it it appears with the proper orientation.

Hi, I'm interested in optics, autofocus and tell me how it works if you can Correct focus when the camera is in autofocus ... thanks

The lens is acceptably sharp and the auto focus is pretty quick and accurate. While in auto focus you can manually override and roll the focus ring but it will come back to whatever the auto focus circuit decides is correct. The focus ring is pretty narrow and has no feedback feel whatsoever. I found manually focusing with it to be a hit and miss exercise. It was much quicker in manual mode to use the momentary focus press button on the camera for quick focus changes. The servo zoom is quicker than the 18-200 and doesn’t seem to have to have the momentary shift and lateral ‘jink’ in movement when zooming back from full zoom that many operators have experienced with the 18-200.

It is nice that it has constant aperture and is parfocal, good features for a video lens. The lens has its place I guess and will work with the NEX still cameras and the EA50 without distortion. On the FS700 I found it to be totally unacceptable due to the excessive distortion especially at the long end. Check out some of the videos in this posting and you will see that the distortion is quite bad. There again for the price it sells for and if used on a camera that has firmware that will correct the distortion it produces it’s probably not a bad deal as there is nothing out there to compete with it.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

I have to decide to sell one of the two.
Any advantages in terms of clarity SELP18105 over SELP18200 ?
If they 're the same, the cheaper wins!
Distortion is not an issue here.